


Optimus’ Adventures in Fatherhood

by ToraOkami303



Series: Optimus adopts Aurora AU [1]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, First Chapter is a little bit Angsty but it gets better I promise, Gen, mentions of minor character death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-09-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:28:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26549743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToraOkami303/pseuds/ToraOkami303
Summary: Optimus decides to adopt a little human toddler he finds in the wake of a battle. These are his adventures in how raising a little human is, at times, vastly different from raising a sparkling.
Relationships: Elita One/Optimus Prime
Series: Optimus adopts Aurora AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1922392
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter One: Surprises Found in the Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> So okay, this **is** _mostly_ a fluffy AU but like this first chapter there _is_ the occasional angst involved with there being an intergalactic war going on (mostly in the background). So I've given the work a T(een) rating just to be safe.
> 
> Once again thank you to my friends on Discord for Proof/Beta Reading! If we missed anything feel free to drop a comment :)

Once the dust settled after the battle Optimus Prime transforms his battle mask away and looks around. He nods to Megatron while he sends out a status ping checking on everyone who was deployed for this battle. Megatron nods back turning to start patrolling the perimeter of the battle area, ensuring their enemy has truly retreated for the time being.

Optimus smiles a little when Ironhide sends in a ping for himself and Lennox, unsurprised the two are still together. Bumblebee also pings in his status as well as the status of any nearby humans, he’s injured so this is the most the sneaky scout can do to help for the time being. Ratchet pings his location, where he has undoubtedly set up a medical tent. First Aid pings that he is moving towards Bumblebee’s location.

Elita-One bounds between some damaged structures, avoiding stepping on any rubble that might hide injured humans. Opting to move to her mate’s location instead of pinging in her status. She pecks him quickly on the cheek before turning to look around at the damage.

“Where should we start my love?”

\---

It thankfully doesn’t take long for Optimus and Elita to coordinate the search and rescue efforts. Any bots who are not injured or, in the case of the Protectobots, came in specifically to help in the aftermath are spread out with small teams of humans carefully searching the rubble for anyone caught in town when the attack hit. Everyone either has a radio or is turned into the radio frequencies to coordinate.

Elita took the search block a bit north of her mate, gently teasing that someone needed to stay close to keep him out of trouble. Ironhide is no doubt also in one of the blocks close to Optimus, ostensibly on accident. Megatron is leading the efforts at the Eastern edges of the town, mostly allowing the humans to handle searching unless they specifically ask for his strength. 

Optimus lifts a piece of wall, careful not to disrupt the balance of the pile of rubble it came from. He had heard faint sounds in this general area, it sounded like crying. He was certain there must be someone stuck nearby. His spark skips a rotation when he catches sight of an absolutely tiny human hiding under a heavy metal table. He carefully sets aside the wall, couching to get as close as he can to the young… girl? He radios the human medic that he found a young patient.

\---

Optimus smiles down at the little girl, the medic estimates she must be no older than three. While she got a little banged up she was saved from serious injury by the metal table she had hidden under. So far there has been no luck finding her parents among the other survivors, or evacuees. Lennox and Ironhide had taken over searching in the area Optimus found the little girl, hopefully they can at least find a hint about where she belongs.

The brave little spark looks up at Optimus and smiles back. She seems to enjoy his company, babbling happy nonsense at the large red and blue cybertronian. When asked the medic assured him she was communicating normally for her estimated age, kids this young don’t talk very clearly. 

Optimus looks up when Ironhide pings him as he and Lennox return. He frowns at the grim look on their faces, whatever they found must not have been good. His spark twists in it’s casing, and the Matrix hums in displeasure. He’s not going to like the news they have.

“OP… we uh… well… We found her parents.” Ironhide starts the conversation, his voice just as grim as his face.

Optimus looks into his friend’s optics, he knows before Lennox continues what they mean.

“Looks like they weren’t so lucky. Didn’t survive the attack. Found some family photos at least. Hopefully a grandparent or Aunt or Uncle are in another area, or survived the attack.”

Optimus shutters his optics, his finials drooping with sadness. He nods that he understands.

“The other survivors and evacuees may know her family. The photos will help us find them.”

He turns looking down at the little orphaned human. She doesn’t seem to understand _why_ Optimus is upset, though she does seem to understand that he _is_ upset. She has toddled close to pat her little hand against his pede, babbling little comforting words she was no doubt taught by her family.

\---

Talking to the other humans that survived the attack or were evacuated revealed the next sad blow to the story, her parents were both only children so no Aunts or Uncles to be found. The grandparents either already passed on, or are in no health to be raising a toddler. She is effectively alone in the world as none of the parents' friends can or want to adopt her.

Optimus sits in the command center cradling the toddler close. Agent Fowler is looking into arrangements to move her into the foster system, but until they have a cover story for what happened in the town they cannot risk moving anyone off the base. Until then, they have many human guests including one tiny toddler. Most of the survivors are in the human sector of the base, really the little one should as well but Optimus feels responsible for her. He needs to help this one little human who lost so much, so young. The Matrix buzzes with contentment at his decision to take control of caring for the toddler in the meantime.


	2. Chapter Two: Tell me More About the Adoption Process

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because the first chapter is a little bit sad I decided to post the second chapter as well :)
> 
> Once again thanks to my friends over on Discord for Proof/Beta Reading! If we missed anything feel free to drop a comment :)

Optimus chuckles watching the little one explore the little blocked off area he has created for her. He lacks any of the ‘baby supplies’ Ironhide talks about the Lennox’s owning but managed to improvise a ‘play pen’ with a few empty, sterilized, energon cubes lined up in a square. Admittedly, the solution is not the most elegant and he has to move one to let the adult humans in since they are tall enough to prevent even adult humans from entering or exiting the five by five structure. However, for his first attempt at keeping her safe he thinks he’s done quite well.

He admittedly should be using the child’s name, they had been told her name by her parents’ friends. He just cannot get over the sheer coincidence that she has the same name as Lennox’s daughter, grant it the spelling is apparently different. He leans his helm on his servo, watching her play with a few toys Sarah had brought over because ‘Kids should have toys even at the worst of times’. He sends a little wave of love to Elita as she starts her patrol shift, processor spinning as he considers how attached he’s becoming to their tiny guest.

~What are you planning my love?~ Elita’s bond-voice cuts through his thoughts.

He cannot help but chuckle a little at the wave of affectionate amusement that accompanies Elita’s question.

~I enjoy having children around… It reminds me of when Arcee was just a little bitty. And Bumblebee’s parents would bring him to play. And then somehow Bulkhead and Breakdown would also wind up at our hab…~ Optimus smiles fondly at the memories of before, of having nothing more to worry about then his next shift at the Archive and what trouble Arcee started at the Care Center.

~I miss those days as well… We are lucky Lennox and Sarah bring Annabelle to visit whenever possible.~ Elita practically sighs down the bond, small flecks of sadness floating through with her words.

~Do we really have to send this little one away? She loves us... She lost everything because of our war, can we really take away the small happiness we restored to her?~ Optimus shutters his optics with the thought, his spark aching and the Matrix thrumming with upset at the prospect of sending the child away into the human foster care system.

~There might be rules about it my love. Talk with Lennox and Fowler.~ Elita soothes him before retreating to focus on her patrol shift.

Optimus nods, opening his optics to look down at the small child. He’ll find out what rules there are, if there’s nothing specifically forbidding his wishes he will raise this little one with his mate. Arcee used to complain about not having siblings, perhaps she will enjoy this chance to be an older sister as well.

\---

Lennox was easy to locate, he was currently outside the main building in an area with an awning to hide the bots from satellites while they got some help with frame maintenance from their friends among the soldiers. Lennox was currently helping Ironhide get some small stones out of his ankle joints.

“Hey Prime, need some help too?” Ironhide grins up at his longtime friend.

“In a way, I was hoping Lennox could answer a few questions I had.” Optimus shifts to sit crouched, careful not to loom over their friend. He smiles gently down at the US Ranger hoping he knows the information Optimus is after.

Lennox glances up from where he’s working, shrugging at the big softie. He’s used to fielding many of Ironhide, Optimus and even Megatron’s questions about humanity, particularly about how the US Army works.

“I can sure try Prime. What’s whirring around in that helm of yours today?”

Optimus ends up asking Lennox quite a few questions about the US Foster System, Adoption, Military Protocols for Children on Base, and other assorted information he would need to keep in mind as legal guardian of a child. Lennox answers what he can and differs the rest to Fowler when the specifics are outside his purview. He figures Optimus is just curious about the legal systems he had not heard about until their littlest guest came along.

\---

Optimus locates Agent Fowler talking with their on base Medical Nurse, June Darby. Though the conversation itself does not seem to have much to do with her job here on base. As far as Optimus can understand Agent Fowler seems to be giving her relationship advice. Optimus politely does not mention he overheard anything when their conversation abruptly cuts off when Ms. Darby notices him approaching. While the humans have not _quite_ picked up on the fact that many of the Cybertronians have better hearing than them, the cybertronians _have_ picked up on the cues that a conversation was not meant to be overheard. It is only reasonable since they lack internal comms to have completely private conversations that the cybertronians respect the humans wishes for the illusion of privacy.

“Hello Agent Fowler, Ms. Darby. I am sorry if I am interrupting anything important. I wish to ask a few questions of Agent Fowler when you have a moment free.” Optimus smiles politely, ready to be brushed off for later if need be.

Ms. Darby waves a hand laughing nervously.

“Oh we were just wrapping up. I’ll get you boys talk shop, I should get back to my station” She waves, making a quick retreat.

Agent Fowler watches her go before turning back to Optimus.

“What’s the problem big guy?” he grunts, fully prepared to have to put out some bureaucratic fire.

“There is no problem. I had a few questions Lennox said you would be better equipped to answer if you have nothing pressing to attend to.” Optimus smiles, color shifting his optics a little to appear more non-threatening. Agent Fowler is a good man but he is understandably wary of their extraterrestrial guests.

“Alright shoot.” Agent Fowler sighs.

Optimus questions Agent Fowler about all the practices and protocols that Lennox did not have specific knowledge of. So far all his questioning has revealed there is little to no reason he and Elita cannot become the adoptive parents of the human toddler. Agent Fowler does not reveal any policies that specifically seem to forbid it, just a plethora of rules and regulations he will need to submit documentation to the appropriate parties to comply with.

“Thank you for your help Agent Fowler, that was everything I had questions about. I will let you get back to your work. Have a good evening.” Optimus waves, sending eager bursts of energy towards Elita that there is very little in their way.

\---

Lennox and Fowler quickly realized they should have been asking _Optimus_ more questions in response to his sudden curiosity about the adoption process. Because the following day some carefully penned paperwork detailing Optimus Prime and Elita-One’s desire to adopt the human toddler appeared in their inboxes.


	3. Chapter Three: First Day as Parents to a Human

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Optimus officially adopts his new daughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my friends on Discord for Proof/Beta Reading! If anything was missed please let me know!
> 
> I'm not 100% happy with this chapter but I wanted to post it anyway because staring at it isn't making it better. You can probably exactly see where I removed the Bee Oneshot from.

Though Agent Fowler argued extensively with Optimus about how much of a terrible idea it was for him to adopt a human toddler in the middle of the war his complaints fell on deaf audials. Even Lennox quickly sided with the bots on the idea, having another toddler around is no more dangerous than having his own toddler around so he really does not see much in the way of an argument against allowing it.

“I just got one question… Why are you changing her name to Aurora Stella Pax?” Lennox asked looking curiously up at Optimus who is hugging Elita to his side while cradling the aforementioned toddler in his servo against his chest plates.

“Well, Aurora means dawn and this is a dawn of a new life for her. Stella was her original middle name, it means star and fits well with Pax so we decided to leave it in. Pax was originally part of my name. Orion Pax. Orion is a constellation here so Aurora Stella Pax suits her well for being Elita and I’s daughter...” Optimus smiles down at Lennox, glad the soldier was on their side on this. He’s not sure how he would have managed to convince  _ both _ their major liaisons this was a good idea.

“And besides, it is common in our culture for someone to take on a new name when something major changes their life. As Optimus said he was Orion Pax before he ascended into Primehood. I was once Ariel before the war called for me to take up arms and become Elita-One. Ultra Magnus used to be Dion. Megatron was once Megatronus...” Elita chuckles trailing off, she leans closer to Optimus looking down at their little girl, sleeping peacefully in her new Father’s servo.

Lennox nods slowly, looking up at them considering that for a while.

“But those are all translations from your own language right?”

Elita nods smiling down at the Ranger, this is why she likes the man. He keeps in mind that they have their own language and culture despite their ease at accepting another world’s rules.

“Yes, in most cases we translated our names either literally or metaphorically. Except a few... like Bumblebee. Rather than translate his name he sought to connect with this planet by changing his name. He took on the name of the buzzing Earth insect when he arrived here to scout.” She giggles a little resting her head on Optimus’ shoulder.

\---

Throughout most of the morning bots coming off their night patrols gave their welcomes to the newest member of the family. Bumblebee had made plans to do a little party with the humans later in the week to celebrate life; he had taken over unofficial morale officer duties while Jazz was in space with Prowl, Soundwave and Vertigo.

Aurora had woken up by midmorning and was cheerfully greeting everyone that came for a short visit. She played happily on the desk Optimus was stationed at to give his fellow cybertronians ample access to him both for welcoming Aurora into the family and if they had need of his duties as Prime.

She pouted when Elita had to leave around Noon to attend to her own duties as Femme Commander. She more or less understood that Optimus and Elita were her parents now, though she had yet to really understand the idea that her Mommy and Daddy were gone.

“Mama come?” She questions looking up at Optimus.

“Elita will return later, yes. She must attend to her duties right now.” Optimus soothes the youth, who nods happily and resumes playing.

She picks up a colorful plush teddy bear inspired by m&ms and toddles closer to Optimus to play with him while she waits. She babbles happily about the game they are playing.

Optimus nods along and responds to the conversation. He is still learning to understand Aurora but he does everything he can to respond to her, the scattered humans working in the Command Center try their hardest not to laugh at this giant robot man playing baby games with the toddler. He glances to the humans, equally amused by their attempts to hide their amusement.

\---

Once Elita returns she ends up swapping with Optimus as he’s needed in Communications to contact Prowl’s ship and coordinate the plan for when they are joining the efforts on Earth. She gently cradles Aurora who is throwing a tiny tantrum in response to this change of plans. She grimaces at the soft thwacks on her metal, making a note to ask June Darby if sentio metallico is harder than humans can safely hit at this age.

Other than holding Aurora while she cries herself out Elita makes every effort not to respond to the tantrum, one thing human children and cybertronian sparklings have in common is that you should  **not** respond to tantrums. It just teaches the little one they will get attention if they act out. Everyone learned their lesson with Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, they  _ still _ act out to get attention and they have been adults for a  _ long _ time now.

Once Aurora calms down Elita smiles down at her.

“It is alright… I know it is upsetting but Optimus will not be gone forever. He will return after he speaks with Prowl and Soundwave.” Elita carefully rubs the toddler’s back while she explains why things must be this way.

“Dada return.” Aurora demands, a few more tears welling up. She doesn’t want to wait.

“Now now… no more tears. Optimus  _ will _ return, it should not take long.” Elita moves one hand to grab a plush puppy offering it to the toddler for a distraction. “Why don’t we play with the puppy while we wait?”

Aurora hugs the toys close, rubbing her face against it before seeming to agree to play a game while they wait. She seems to quickly forget about her upset in favor of having fun playing with her new Mama.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aurora is absolutely Optimus' little girl.


End file.
